Sam Houston Bearkats football
intercollegiate American football team
The Sam Houston Bearkats football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Sam Houston State University located in the U.S. state of Texas. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Conference USA. Sam Houston's first football team was fielded in 1912. The team plays its home games at the 14,000-seat Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas. On December 18, 2024, Phil Longo was named the 16th head coach in Sam Houston program history.
In July 2021, the Bearkats left the Southland Conference to join the Western Athletic Conference, which relaunched its football league at the FCS level at that time. Just a few months later, on November 5, 2021, the school accepted an invitation to join Conference USA at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level beginning in the 2023–24 season.
History
Sam Houston has fielded a football team since 1912 and have played continuously since 1946 following World War II. The only times the Bearkats did not field a football team were in 1918 for World War I, from 1943 to 1945 for World War II, and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (although they did get a make-up season in the spring of 2021). The Bearkats competed independently from 1912 through 1923, in the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) from 1924 to 1931, in the Lone Star Conference from 1932 to 1984, in the Gulf Star Conference from 1982 to 1985 and in the Southland Conference from 1986 to 2021. In July 2021, The Bearkats left the Southland Conference to join the Western Athletic Conference, which relaunched its football league at the FCS level at that time. Just a few months later, on November 5, 2021, the school accepted an invitation to join FBS Conference USA beginning in the 2023–24 season.
“Sam Houston Bearkats football” enters the record as intercollegiate American football team. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Houston, Bearkats and football can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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